Matic action co



2 SHEETSSHEET I Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

L. W. SOUTHGATE.

ACCENTING DEVICE FOR PIANO PLAYERS.

APPLICATION FILED DE(;.29. 1910.

WeJdes:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LOUIS W. SOUTHGATE, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO AUTO PNEU- MATIC ACTION C0., OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ACCEN'IING DEVICE FOR PIANO-PLAYEBS.

Application filed December 29, 1910.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Louis XV. SOUTH- GATE, a citizen of the United States, residing at WVorcester, in the county of \Vorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invent ed a new and useful Accenting Device for Piano-Players, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide an accenting device for piano players by which any note, notes, or series of notes, such as an accented note, a chord, a run, one or more particular notes of a chord, or the notes of a theme or melody will be accented or played louder relatively to the other notes. It has been proposed to do this in a variety of manners, principally by in creasing momentarily the air tension which operates the pneumatics, but this has led to difliculties, owing to the complication of the pneumatic mechanism and to the difliculty of getting only a momentary increase 01'? the air tension without aifecting the tension which plays the notes which are not to be accented. As distinguished from these devices, I arrange an independently operated striker or pivoted bar so as to impart additional power to the particular units of the piano action called in proper time relation therewith, so that said particular units will be more forcibly operated than when open ated only by the operating pneumatics. In this way the normal operating air tension is not disturbed for accent, and a simple and effective mechanism is provided for the purposes stated.

The striker is preferably operated automatically by pneumatic mechanism arranged to be called into operation from an accent opening in the tracker bar and accent perforations in the note sheet.

The best form of apparatus now known to me for practising the invention is shown in the accompanying two sheets of drawings, in which,

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation through a piano player with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a side view partially in section illustrating the normal position of the striker. Fig. 3 is a similarview illustrating the operation of the striker. Fig. 1 is a plan view of part ofva note sheet and tracker bar, and Fig. 5 is an isometric view illustrating the arrangement of the striker and its operating mechanism.

Specification of Letters Patent.

openings.

Patented Aug. 8, 1916.

Serial No. 599,906.

Referring to the drawings and in detail, it will be seen that Fig. 1 illustrates a section of a piano player in which the actions can be operated to strike the strings either by the keys A or by a series of pneumatics B, each pneumatic B being connected by a rod and a flexible finger to engage the end of the wippen 10 of an action. The pneumatics B are called into operation through a perforated note sheet C which is drawn over a tracker bar D having the usual note The openings in the tracker bar are connected by tubes to valve chambers having the usual primary and secondary valve mechanisms. A pumping apparatus is arranged inside the piano casing in the usual way so that by operating the pedals, air "ill be exhausted from the wind trunk and the pneumatics B called into operation by the perforated note sheet C as it travels over the tracker bar D whereby the piano can be played automatically in the usual way.

Each key A is provided with an adjusting screw 11, which is arranged to engage un der an abstract 12, pivoted to the wippen of the action in the usual manner. Each abstract 12 is supported at its lower end by a lever 13 which is pivoted to a small bracket 130 secured to a rail or bar 15 extending across the casing. Each link 13 is extended rearwardly and pivoted to the same is a pawl arm 14,, which pawl arm is arranged so that downward pressure will push the rearmost end of the lever 13 downward, but so that upward pressure will simply turn the pawl arm on its pivot. A small light wire spring 150- is secured over the meeting ends of the lever 13 and the pawl arm 14: so as to keep the pawl arm normally in the position shown in the drawings.

A shaft 18 is journaled in the casing and has projecting arms 17 which carry a striker S. As shown in the d "awings there are two arms 17 between the shaft 16 and the striker S, but as many of these arms may be employed as is necessary for the purposes of rigidity.

As shown, the striker S consists of a bar having a narrowedge, although it can be made in many different shapes for engagement with the actions. I The striker is arranged so that when the same is in its normal position, as shown in Fig. 41, it will clear the rear edges of the pawl arms 1 1 and so that any pawl arm can swing down past the same without engagement therewith, whereby in ordinary playing when no accenting is to be done, the striker does not interfere with the operation of the units of the actions either when played from the keys or through the operating pneumatics.

The arms 17 are extended rearwardly and are connected by links 18 to the movable members of power pneumatics 1919, which are secured preferably to the sides of the piano casing. These pneumatics are arranged so that when called into operation, the striker will be given a quick downward movement on the arc of a circle about the center of the shaft 16.

A spring 20 may be connected to one of the arms 17 and adjustably secured to a fixed part of the casing so that the striker will return quickly to its normal position and will be held in such normal position.

A pipe 21 connects the power pneumatics 1919 with any desired point in the wind trunk. The power pneumatics 19 19 are ordinarily open to the atmosphere but may have the air in the same exhausted quickly through the pipe 21 by means of any of the usual ailve mechanisms such as the ordi nary primary and secondary valve mechanism employed in pneumatic instruments and which valves may be housed and arranged in valve casings secured on top of the power pneumatics.

The valves are controlled by a pipe 22 which is connected to an accent opening 23 formed in the side of the tracker bar D. The time relation of the parts is such that the note to be accented is called into operation just before the striker starts to operate. Thus the unit of the action which is to be operated by the striker starts first in operation, which brings the rear end of its pawl arm into the path of the striker, so that as the striker then makes its downward swing, it will engage said pawl arm and impart a forcible movement to the abstract lever 13 and thus cause the particular unit of the action to operate more powerfully than when operated only through its pneumatic. The engagement of the striker in this manner is illustrated in Fig. 3.

The note sheet C is provided with accent perforations 24 which are set slightly behind the leading ends of the perforations for the notes which are to be accented. The accent perforations 24, are preferably made small openings so that the ope ation of the striker will be very rapid, the ports and valves controlling the pneumatics 1919 which operate the striker being made large so that the movements of the striker will be very quick and rapid.

If a note or chord is to be accented, the arrangement indicated on the line 25 of the note sheet is employed. In this arrangement, the perforations for the notes which are to be accented first uncover their respective openings in the tracker bar so that the particular units of the actions will be started into operation and then the accent perforation 2% in the note sheet uncovers the accent opening 23 in the tracker bar, causing the striker to operate these particular actions powerfully.

If arun is to be accented, the arrangement indicated by the lines 2(S-2(32(3 is employed. In this arrangement, the perforation for each note of the run which is to be accented first uncovers its particular opening in the tracker bar and then an accent opening 21 in the note sheet uncovers the accent opening 23 in the tracker bar so that the striker will overtake and operate the particular unit of the action which has been started in operation, and this operation re peated for each note, the accent perforations in the note sheet being so short, that the striker will return to normal position before the next note is called into action.

If a chord is to be struck and a part of the notes thereof accented, the arrangement indicated on the line 27 is employed. In this arrangement the leading end or ends of perforation or perforations in the note sheet for the note or notes to be accented (indicated by shading) is or are given a slight lead over the perforations of the notes not to be accented (which are not shaded) and the accent perforation is arranged in line with the leading ends of the perforations which control the notes which are not to be accented. Then in operation, the unit of the action for each note which is to be accented starts in operation first, is overtaken and emphasized by the striker, and the units of the action for notes which are not to be accented come into operation about as the striker comes into operation, are not engaged thereby, and fall behind the striker and are played with whatever degree of force is applied by the pneumatics. This action is indicated in Fig. 3. By this arrangement one or more notes of a chord can be played loudly and the remaining notes softly.

The pawls l l on the ends of the lovers 13 prevent any interference of the units of the action which are called into operation after the striker operates, because if the same tend to engage the upper side of the striker they will simply turn on their pivots and the striker will have no effect thereon. Further, if a unit of the action should be called into operation as the striker is moving upwardly, the striker will move past the lever 13 by reason of the pawl construction. Thus by the arrangements described, any note,

chord, series of notes, or musical theme or melody can be automatically accented and this accent is not dependent in any way upon the tension which is being applied to the power pneumatics which operate the actions. This leaves the operator free to express the musical composition in any way he pleases, the function of the accenting device being simply to pick out and accent certain particular notes without interfering otherwise with the action of the instrument.

The details and arrangements herein shown and described may be greatly varied by a skilled mechanic without departing from the scope of my invention as expressed in the claims.

Having thus fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is 1. A player piano having a series of pneumatic mechanisms arranged to operate the piano action and an independently-operated striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to particular units of the action so that said particular units will operate more forcibly than when operated only by said pneumatic mechanisms.

2. A player piano having a series of pneumatic mechanisms arranged to operate the piano action, and an independently-operated striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to particular units of the action started in operation just before the striker starts to operate.

A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, and an independently-operated pivoted striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to particular units of the action started in operation in proper time relation therewith.

4. A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, and an independently-pneumatically-operated striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to particular units of the action, started in operation in proper time relation therewith.

5. A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, and an independently-operated striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to the abstracts of the particular units of the action started in operation in proper time relation therewith.

6. A piano player having the abstracts of the action carried by levers, a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, and an independently-operated striker arranged to engage the levers which carry the abstracts.

7. A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, the levers which support the abstracts having pawl extensions, and an independently-- operated striker arranged to engage the pawl extensions.

8. A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, a tracker having note perforations, an independently pneumatically operated striker arranged to impart through positively operating devices additional power to the particular units of the action started in operation in proper time relation therewith, and an accent opening in the tracker connected to control the operation of the striker, whereby the striker can be called into operation by accent perforations in the note sheet.

9. A player piano having a series of pneumatics arranged to operate the piano action, a tracker having note perforations and an accent perforation, an independent pneumatically-operated striker arranged to im part through positively operating devices additional power to the particular units of the action started into action in proper time relation therewith, and a note-sheet having perforations for the notes, and accent perforations, the accent perforations being set slightly behind the leading ends of the perforations for the notes which are to be accented.

10. A player piano in which the abstracts are carried by levers having a series of pneu matics arranged to operate the wippens of the action, and an independently-operated striker arranged to'engage the levers which carry the abstracts of the action to impart additional power to the particular units of the action started into operation in proper time relation therewith.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

LOUIS WV. SOUTHGATE.

Witnesses:

E. M. ALLEN, O. FORREST VVEssoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. G. 

